Dordogne base for 2 nights?
 

Looking for a suggestions for somewhere to base in the Dordogne for two nights - 2 adults and two teenagers taking the train from Paris and then renting a car while in the area. Any thoughts? I am familiar with the Bordeaux area but have never been to the Dordogne.

Thank you very much!

Sarlat-la-Canada is the tourist epicenter of what most people think of the Dordogne - the best part IMO

It's also a cool regional town

near it are several perched villages much smaller that would work well if you have a car

Within a few miles of Sarlat are:

Les Eyzies - famous for its caves and cave paintings

Montignac - venue of the most famous cave painting Lascaux - you can only go down into a reproduction of the real cave and paintings i believe

and several neat old villages along the Dordogne River like Beynac, Roque-Gageac and Domme - all are very famous and super mobbed in July and August

I'd rent a car at Libourne, a stop of TGV line from Paris and then drive along the Dordogne river to Sarlat - en route you could visit Saint-Emilion one of the finest wine towns i've seen - old town sitting in a swirl of vineyards and wine houses producing fabled Bordeaux vintages.

If can't rent a car at Libourne, Bordeaux would be OK but could be a drag to drive out of.

Thank you, that helps a lot =)

What time of year are you planning to visit? If it's high season, I wouldn't stay in Sarlat - traffic is a mess, especially if you end up there on one of the market days (Wednesday and Saturday).

And you can get a lot closer to the Dordogne by train than Libourne (though if you want to visit St-Emilion, that's a good choice). You can take the train to Perigueux or Brive-la-Gaillarde, or even Sarlat (though connections are harder for Sarlat).

You can rent the car in Brive and drive close to the river to your hotel/lodging near Sarlat.

The nights will be July 1st and 2nd.

Is Sarlat going to be a bad idea in July, being high season? What about Bergerac - is that a good place to stay?

Thank you!

Nope - that's too far west. You want to be as near Sarlat as possible - le Bugue, Roque Gageac, Beynac, Domme, Carlux, St Cyprien, etc.

Stu Dudley

And you can visit the famous Sarlat market on the 2nd.

Definitely not Bergerac. Or Périgueux. Stu has given you a good selection of towns, though frankly, traffic is nasty in Domme, Beynac, and La Roque-Gageac in July. In Domme, you have to squeeze into and out of town through narrow gates and traffic backs up. The other two sit right on the river, with a narrow two-lane road between the town and the riverbank. You have to snake your way along that road to get anywhere.

Better choices are Le Bugue, St-Cyprien, Vitrac, Carlux, Montignac, Ste-Alvère, Campagne, Tamniès, Le Buisson...any of the villages not right on the Dordogne within a 20-mile or so radius of Sarlat.